


Little Blue Snow Globe

by RobinPlaysTrumpet15



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Misunderstandings, do not copy to another site, unintentional hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:47:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27550111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinPlaysTrumpet15/pseuds/RobinPlaysTrumpet15
Summary: Kix likes to spend as much time celebrating Christmas as he possibly can. Jesse finds this out very suddenly, and misunderstandings ensue.
Relationships: CT-5597 | Jesse/CT-6116 | Kix
Comments: 6
Kudos: 48





	Little Blue Snow Globe

**Author's Note:**

> Yet _another_ fic inspired by a conversation with a friend on discord. I know it's not the Christmas season yet, but honestly, who cares? It's the perfect time for _this_ fic. Also, I have no explanation why Kix lives in a house, alone, instead of an apartment, but by the time I started really thinking about it, it was too late to change it, and I'm not sorry. So, oh well.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you like this. Kanra, I hope this does the idea justice.

The bed is cold. Jesse frowns before he can even open his eyes and properly greet the morning. He slides one hand across the sheets, finding them cool to the touch and distinctly absent of another person. Jesse can’t tell yet what time it is, but it feels early.

Honestly, this isn’t really abnormal. Jesse’s boyfriend is the kind of person who is perfectly capable of keeping late nights and early mornings when the mood strikes him. Especially when he’s not expected at the hospital for a shift. Kix likes to make the most of his days whenever he can. The early bird catches the worm and all that.

Personally, Jesse’s more of a “the second mouse gets the cheese” kind of guy. Early mornings can be good for a brisk jog, but only if he has to. And on a Sunday, the day after Halloween? Jesse doesn’t have to. Not yet, anyway. He’s on call today, and could be needed at work, but that remains to be seen. The captain might need him to help play catch up on their latest project, but Rex said it was probably unlikely. It could wait for Monday.

Either way, Jesse figures he ought to get up, and see what his boyfriend has gotten in to already.

There’s light flooding Kix’s bedroom, sunlight streaming in through the windows and open curtains. Outside, most of the leaves have fallen from the trees around the house, but those that are still hanging on are brown and red, similar to the ones already on the ground.

Jesse throws the covers off himself and stands from the bed. His duffle bag sits on the floor near the foot of the bed, still full of his clothes. Kix had told him he could claim some of the drawers in the dresser, but he hasn’t gotten around to it yet. Plus, Jesse doesn’t want to move any of Kix’s stuff until he has permission, and lord knows there aren’t any empty drawers in the dresser. (Or space in the closet.)

They’re doing a trial period of living together. They’ve been together for about a year, and met two years before that. It took them a while to come together and actually go on a date, which wasn’t at all helped by Kix’s nightmare university courseload or Jesse tripping over his words every time he was face-to-face with the pretty boy who was quickly stealing his heart. But they finally did it, and the last year of dating Kix has been the best of Jesse’s life.

They figured that now would be a good time to attempt this trial period, because they both have large, relatively eccentric families, and if they can’t handle living together during the holiday season, then it might be best to wait a while before thinking about living together again. Jesse knows that Kix is the one for him, or he thinks he knows that, at least. He certainly _wants_ to be by Kix’s side for the rest of his life, or for as long as Kix will have him.

So Jesse will be staying at Kix’s house (which is larger and nicer than Jesse’s own apartment) for the next two or three months. Unless, of course, something goes very sideways, and they decide to call the arrangement off.

He pulls on a t-shirt so he’s not naked from the waist up, and decides it’s good enough for now. He can get dressed after breakfast and a shower, after all.

It takes him until he opens the door to realize he’s hearing music playing in the background. And not just any music either. It’s Christmas music.

_’What station is he listening to that’s already playing Christmas songs?’_ Jesse wonders. It’s only November 1st, after all. He knows some stations will do that, but he’s not actually encountered one.

Oh well. Maybe Kix just hasn’t gotten the chance to change the channel yet. They’ve still got Halloween decorations up and leftover candy from trick-or-treat to eat. It’s not time for Christmas yet.

Jesse has a right surprise waiting for him in the living room when he appears a few seconds later.

There is not a scrap of the Halloween decorations left up. They’re totally gone. Jesse spies the box down on the landing, waiting to be taken down to the storage room. In their place, the living room has been totally decked out in red, green, and gold. There’s glitter everywhere. The Christmas music is much more prominent now, loud and blasting from the hub in the kitchen.

Kix himself is up on a stepstool, bopping his head to the beat of the song and singing along with it. There’s a wide smile on his face as he stares with bright eyes down at the snow globe in his hands. It’s dark and blue, filled with swirling, glittering snowflakes and little white pellets Jesse assumes are supposed to look like snow.

Jesse can’t help the sound of disbelief that leaves him as he stares around at the Christmas wonderland Kix’s living room had become sometime in the last ten hours.

“Oh my god…”

Kix spins on the stepstool to face him, a brilliant grin lighting up his face. Jesse jerks forward, worried his boyfriend will tumble off the ladder for a moment. But Kix is steady on his feet as he always it, and even goes so far as to throw his arms out wide, both gesturing to the room and as if he’s asking for a hug.

“Merry Christmas!” he exclaims. And Jesse will give him one thing. The light of Christmas is certainly shining from his boyfriend’s eyes.

“No,” is all Jesse can respond with.

The smile on Kix’s face goes slightly manic as he lowers his arms to his sides and nods his head.

“Yes,” Kix insists.

Jesse shakes his head. “Absolutely not.”

Kix just laughs as Jesse’s phone chooses that moment to start ringing. He turns with a deep breath and pads back towards the bedroom where his phone is still sitting on the charger. Unfortunately, he finds Rex’s contact picture on the screen along with the green and red call buttons and the captain’s ringtone playing into the room.

If Rex is calling him this early on a Sunday, something has definitely gone wrong at the worksite.

Jesse lets out a private sigh, then answers with a dutifully chipper tone.

“Morning, Captain. What’s up?”

Rex sighs. Jesse’s conclusion was correct. Something’s wrong.

_”I hate to do this to you, Jess, but one of our shinies dropped the countertop while they were installing it, and now it’s broken. We’ve got a replacement lined up, but I need you to pick it up and run it over here.”_

That’s fine… He can do that. He’d hoped to _not_ have to do that, but it’s alright. Shouldn’t take long, then he can come home and hear all about Christmas. Since apparently his boyfriend is one of those people that begins celebrating the moment Halloween is over.

Jesse has to admit… it’s kind of cute.

“You got it, Rex,” he says. “I just have to shower and then I’ll head out. Text me details.”

_”Thanks, Jesse. You’re a life saver. Tell Kix I said hi.”_

“Will do.”

He hangs up and sets the phone on the charger again, hoping to get as much charge out of it as possible. Supposedly he won’t be gone more than a few hours, but there’s really no telling. Once he gets to the site, he may very well get sucked into some other project that’s now behind schedule.

Well, either way, he has things to do. He’s a little disappointed that he won’t be getting to see that smile Kix is sporting out in the living room. Even if it _is_ a little early for Christmas, Jesse’s down for whatever will make his man most happy.

He grabs a clean set of work clothes and slips into the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day.

*

Kix hums to the song playing from the kitchen. It’s one of his favorites. Honestly, most Christmas songs are his favorites. Except the sad ones that make you cry (looking at you, _The Christmas Shoes_ ), but even those had their place some days. Today, those sad ones are nowhere to be found, which he definitely appreciates. He’s almost done putting up all his snow globes on their designated shelf.

They’re arranged perfectly, and Kix loves each and every one of them. His favorite is set in the middle, right where it’s easiest to see. It’s simple and not nearly as interesting as some of the others he’s gotten over the years, but it’s still his favorite. It still makes him smile.

Jesse wasn’t excited.

The thought makes Kix pause. He’s standing on the floor now instead of his stepladder, unwrapping one of his grandmother’s snow globes. No, Jesse hadn’t been excited at all. At best, he’d been surprised, and not in a good way. He was more startled. Like he couldn’t believe what he was looking at.

Kix had thought Jesse knew… Well, he’d been under the impression Jesse knew just how much Kix loves Christmas. He thought that in the year they’d been dating and the three years total they’ve known each other, Jesse would have picked up on Kix’s enthusiasm for the holiday. But now… Kix can tell it had taken the man off guard.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t okay with it, though. Kix shakes himself and climbs up the stool again, finding a place for the snow globe.

No, it’s alright. Just a misunderstanding, that’s all.

“Hey, Kix,” Jesse calls.

Kix looks over to find the man dressed for work and standing by the stairs with his keys and a jacket in hand.

_’He’s leaving?’_ he thinks to himself. He tries to wipe the frown off his face before it’s too obvious. No need to be worrying his boyfriend, after all.

Instead, he says, “I thought you usually didn’t work on Sundays?”

Jesse sighs. “No, I don’t. But I’m on call today, and some _di’kutla_ kid broke something at the worksite. I have to pick up the replacement and run it by for Rex.”

“Oh,” Kix sighs, feeling relieved. It sucks that something broke, but at least it’s not— “When do you think you’ll be back?”

Jesse shrugs, taking a couple steps down the stairs.

“I don’t know. Rex might need me while I’m there. If I figure it out, I’ll text you and let you know, but it shouldn’t take more than a few hours. I’ll be back soon.”

Kix swallows and forces a smile. “Okay. I’ll see you later. Love you.”

“Love you, too. Bye.”

Kix doesn’t move until he hears the door squeak open and then close again. He steps up to the window and watches Jesse climb into his truck and pull away.

Then it’s just Kix and he’s free once again to go about his yearly routine of decorating the house. It’s his favorite time of the year — getting the house all festive and pretty and warm. Nothing feels better than November 1st when it’s finally time to get out all his favorite seasonal towels and pot holders and garlands and ornaments and everything else.

But… it’s not just Kix’s house this year, is it? This is Jesse’s home for now, too. And if all goes well in the next couple months, hopefully they’ll be moving in together full time, too. This will be home — _their_ home.

Kix is starting to realize he’s taken over. Jesse should get a say in how and when they decorate. He can’t just wake up and decide to do something now. He should think these things through and ask Jesse about it first. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that he’s made a mistake.

Jesse doesn’t put as much stock into Christmas as Kix does. Jesse doesn’t get as excited and go _overboard_.

Kix looks around himself at the living room — at all the decorations on the walls and the shelves and all the ones he _hasn’t_ put up yet. Yeah… he’s definitely gone overboard. This is too much. Jesse’s look of disbelief flashes across his mind again. He’d looked at Kix like he was insane.

And—

_”Oh my god…”_

_”Merry Christmas!”_

_”No.”_

_”Yes.”_

_”Absolutely not.”_

Guilt trickles into the pit of Kix’s stomach.

He’s made a huge mistake.

It’s only the first of the month, and it’s not even December. Most sane people don’t do this. They don’t act like crazy people and decorate the house for a holiday two months away the day after Halloween. And… Kix likes Halloween. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with leaving the house spooky for a couple more days. Surely, Jesse would have preferred that.

Jesse’s probably mad at him. Maybe he had wanted to help Kix decorate. Perhaps he’d had thoughts and plans — ideas of the two of them acting all cute and couple-y while they put up a tree and deck it out in ornaments and lights and everything else. And Kix just ruined all of that. He probably ruined Jesse’s plans for Thanksgiving, too.

Thanksgiving is a time for fall decorations. Leaves and oranges and reds and yellows and browns. Turkeys and pumpkins and all those things that Kix has never put a lot of effort into. He hardly really has any “Fall” decorations. Every year, he’s always just gone straight from Halloween to Christmas, and it’s never bothered him before.

It’s bothering him now.

His and Jesse’s relationship isn’t new, exactly. They’ve been together just over a year, if you count from the time they actually had that conversation. Jesse asked Kix to be his boyfriend, and Kix smiled and giggled and kissed him, and the year has been good since then. It hasn’t been perfectly smooth sailing, but Kix counts that as a good sign. Relationships with no bumps in the road aren’t always the most stable in the long run.

Very rarely, though, has Kix done something to truly upset Jesse. It’s actually really _never_ happened before. They get along well, and Kix isn’t one to do things that upset others very often, and that includes his boyfriend. So for him to have gotten Jesse upset with this is new and not least of all, a little scary.

What if Jesse really is mad at him? What if he hates all the decorations, and thinks Kix is being ridiculous and frivolous and stupid? What if Jesse hates people who celebrate Christmas too early? What if he comes back from work and tells Kix this isn’t going to work out? That he doesn’t want to live together? Worst of all, what if he realizes _they_ don’t work?

What if Kix loses Jesse over this?

Dread floods his entire being. Tears fill his eyes, blurring the room around him so it’s just a blob of red and gold and twinkles of light.

Kix lifts his eyes, looking up at the simple blue snow globe. He can hardly see it through the tears that have yet to fall. All it does is bring more tears to his eyes, forcing them to spill down over his cheeks and drip from his chin.

It would be selfish of him to not do what he can to help Jesse feel comfortable as they go through this transition. ~~Hopefully it’s still a transition.~~ Even if Jesse were only a guest, it’s Kix’s job as the host to make Jesse’s stay good and comfortable.

“I should… put this stuff away,” he says to himself, sniffling and wiping tears off his face with the back of his hand.

And slowly, Kix forces himself to move again. He looks around, decides which decorations need to be put away again first, and starts on his new task.

It took longer than it should have, and with every decoration and knickknack that came down, the worse Kix felt. It was his fault, of course. He had no right to feel so awful and dejected. But he did, and it made him feel terrible. It was selfish of him to put all these things up without talking to Jesse about it in the first place. He should be more considerate in the future.

It would be all his fault if Jesse decides to leave him after this. Kix is a freak, after all. No normal person gets this riled up about Christmas.

It took him a couple hours to put everything up, and it takes him even longer to put everything away. Of course… it does always seem to be like that. Taking all his Christmas stuff down after New Years is always kinda sad and somehow it’s harder to get everything back in the totes than it is to get it out. Which… he supposes actually makes sense. But still. It’s nearly lunch time before everything is packed away again.

He didn’t eat breakfast that morning. It’s noon now. He last ate pizza with Jesse around eight p.m. last night. There’s leftovers in the fridge. He should eat something.

He doesn’t.

Jesse isn’t back yet. Kix hasn’t gotten a text either.

It’s okay. He tells himself it’s fine. Jesse’ll be back soon, and he can apologize for everything. Jesse’s needed at work. Work is much more important than Kix is. They’ll talk when Jesse gets home— back. When he gets back.

Yeah…

When Jesse gets back.

*

Jesse parks the truck in Kix’s driveway and turns off the ignition. He groans and slumps back into the seat, letting his head fall back against the headrest.

The day was long, and slightly annoying. He got the replacement counter top and delivered it as requested. He stayed to help install it. The shiny wasn’t allowed to touch it, and in fact, he looked miserable while helping paint the living room. Luckily he wasn’t on trim, because that would likely have ended with other issues.

Once the counter was in, Rex went over the plans with him. They’re really behind schedule. If they don’t pick up the pace in the coming week, they’re going to be seriously late.

But that’s not a concern for today. Jesse’s already spent way too long working at the site today. Originally, he was supposed to work on Monday, but Rex made the executive decision for Jesse to take the day off. Jesse will still shoot him a text sometime tomorrow and check up on how things are going, and ask if he needs him to stop by and help with anything, but he’s not going to argue with his captain.

It’s not late now, but it’s way later than Jesse would have liked it to be. He never even got a chance to text Kix and let him know what was going on. He doesn’t usually carry his phone on the site with him, and when he did have it on him, he was in a dead spot where he couldn’t get any texts to go through. All in all, it was a frustrating day.

He’s happy to be back home, and excited to see Kix. His boyfriend never fails to put a smile on his face. Plus, Jesse can’t wait to see exactly what Kix has done to the house. He’s seen the decorations in the past, but usually much closer to Christmas, so he hadn’t thought anything of it. But Kix seems to be pretty good about making sure his arrangements don’t look exactly the same every year. After all, he clearly has a lot of Christmas stuff. It just makes sense to rotate some of it in and out for some interest.

Oddly enough though, Jesse doesn’t see any lights on within the house. Maybe Kix made a run out to the store?

Jesse lets himself inside, finding the front door unlocked just as it had been that morning when he left.

He pauses on the landing and looks around, frowning. Jesse distinctly remembers there being garland and lights on the railings on the stairs that morning. But now… there’s nothing. They’re bare. From what he can see up the stairs to the living room, there don’t seem to be lights up there either. There were when he got up.

When he’s finally in the living room, Jesse wonders if that morning had just been some sort of fever dream or something. All the decorations are gone and the totes put away. There are no snow globes on the shelf. Even the vaguely Christmas-y decorations he’d noticed that stay up year round are gone, and Jesse can’t make heads or tails of that.

“Kix?” he calls into the house, not immediately seeing his boyfriend anywhere. “Kixystix, are you here?”

There’s no answer, and that’s worrying.

Jesse peeks into the kitchen, but doesn’t find Kix there, so he heads down the hallway towards their bedroom. A quick check in the office proves that room is void of life too.

Thankfully, he finds Kix sitting on the edge of his bed. Something’s wrong, though. The lights are off, he’s not on his phone, and he’s not even moving. Jesse sighs in relief at seeing him, though. He was getting concerned.

“There you are,” he says, putting a smile in his voice. “What’re you doing in here?”

Kix’s shoulders curl in even further. A tremble runs through him.

Jesse’s heart stops for a second.

“Kix? What’s wrong?”

He fully enters the room, going to Kix and kneeling in front of him. Kix lets Jesse take his hands in his own, but doesn’t react to it at all. Jesse searches for his eyes, but his boyfriend continues to avoid his gaze. It doesn’t hide the tears, though, or the ashy tone to his skin and the angry red flush on his cheeks. Like he’s been rubbing at the skin for hours.

Jesse doesn’t know what to do. He’s never seen Kix like this before, and it’s scary. This side of Kix is not something he shows to people, and Jesse decides in that moment that he doesn’t like it. There’s something very wrong about this normally confident, beautiful man looking like something has sucked all the life right out of him.

“Kix, _talk_ to me. Please. What happened?”

A million possibilities run through Jesse’s head, none of them pleasant and not all of them particularly plausible.

Then, _finally_ , Kix speaks.

“I’m sorry…” His voice is small and choked and almost painful to listen to. It makes Jesse’s chest tighten uncomfortably.

A startled laugh chokes out of Jesse, and he immediately regrets the sound when Kix flinches.

“‘ _Sorry_ ’? Babe, what could you possibly have to be sorry about?”

Kix’s only response is to curl up further and begin to cry harder. A breathtakingly pitiful sound rips out of the younger man. Jesse feels his heart break.

The ideas and possibilities and options are back, everything from Kix accidentally breaking something of Jesse’s to someone dying. Then it hits him like a sledgehammer. The missing decorations. Kix’s closed-off and dejected… everything. Jesse’s own reaction and quick exit after the decor reveal that morning.

Of course. He should have known.

Jesse’s heart shatters and suddenly he’s sure he’s the worst person on the face of the planet.

What does he say? How does he fix this?

He certainly doesn’t want to openly call Kix on it though, worried that if he does, he’ll push him even further away on accident. Instead, Jesse reaches up and wipes away the tears as gently as he can. He tries to smile, even if Kix isn’t even looking at him.

“Will you tell me about the snow globes on the shelf?” he asks, remembering what Kix had been doing just before he left that morning. His boyfriend had lit up like the sun, looking at them. Especially that simple little blue one.

The worst possible thing happens. Kix’s expression crumples further, and he all but falls into Jesse. Jesse moves quickly to catch the man and resettle them both on the bed. He holds Kix close, shushing him as well as he can.

“I’m sorry, Kix,” he says as he rubs his boyfriend’s back. “I didn’t mean— I hadn’t realized just how important this is to you. I was entirely too dismissive of it.”

Kix hiccups and clings to Jesse. He cries, hard and almost uncontrollably.

“I-I— I’m sorry. Sorry I’m too much. I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. I didn’t think it would bother you…”

Pain lances through Jesse’s heart. He sighs softly, and leans down, pressing kisses to Kix’s cheeks.

“I wasn’t bothered, love. I wasn’t uncomfortable.” Kix sniffles against him. “And you don’t ever have to apologize for being yourself. _You_ are who I fell in love with. All of you, exactly the way you are.”

The younger man whimpers in his hold as Jesse continues.

“It was just new, sweetheart. I don’t hate it. I love when you get excited about things; I just wasn’t expecting it.”

Kix doesn’t respond, but Jesse thinks his tears have slowed, and the trembling has toned down some. He doesn’t dare push his boyfriend too soon though. Jesse just lets them sit there and holds Kix for as long as he’s allowed. Truthfully, Jesse would be happy if he never did anything but hold Kix for the rest of his life.

They sit, and Jesse rocks them both slowly. He rubs Kix’s back and his arms, warming him up because he feels sort of like an ice cube. Kix’s tears peeter out relatively quickly, but Jesse waits until his breath is steady an in sync with his own. He doesn’t turn on the light, but he does lay them down on the bed. Jesse wraps Kix up in his arms securely and just holds him for a while.

Finally, when something like a half hour had passed, Jesse breaks the silence of the room and speaks.

“You with me, Kixystix?”

Kix hums and nuzzles against Jesse. “Yeah.”

“How are you feeling?”

He gets a shrug in response. “Better,” Kix whispers. Then he yawns. “Tired.”

A loud gurgly rumble cuts through the quiet. Kix’s face goes hot.

“Maybe a little hungry…”

Jesse hums. Ordinarily, he would have grinned and teased him. Tonight’s not for teasing, though.

“Have you eaten today?” he asks simply. Kix doesn’t respond, which is telling enough. Jesse’ll take that as a no. “Hm… what do you think? Chinese sound good?”

Kix’s stomach growls loudly again, and he groans and hides his face against Jesse’s chest.

“Yes,” he admits.

Now Jesse does smile and gives a small chuckle. He has to let go of Kix to reach back and pull his phone from his pocket. It takes almost no time at all to put in an online order at their favorite local Chinese place and set it for delivery. Once he hits the submit button and gets the automatic email, he turns off the screen and puts it away, curling up with Kix again and pressing kisses across the man’s face.

“Alright, love. Half an hour.”

Kix gives a soft whine and a sigh. “Thank you.”

Jesse kisses him again, right on the crown of his head. He needs to get them both up and doing something. Probably get some water into Kix. Lord knows his boyfriend probably hasn’t had anything to drink today.

“I’ve had a thought, _cyare_ ,” he says easily, and waits for Kix to give him a hum of acknowledgement. “Would you like to decorate while we eat? I think the house looks better the way it was this morning.”

Kix looks up to turn large, teary eyes on him again. It pulls at Jesse’s heartstrings as he tries not to panic. It’s okay. They’re fine. He has this under control.

“We don’t have to if—” Kix begins, but Jesse won’t hear it. He shushes Kix gently, pressing his fingers lightly against the man’s lips.

“Kix, I would _love_ to decorate with you. It makes you happy. And you being happy makes me happy. Okay?” He pulls his fingers away and watches as Kix gives him a small, shy smile.

“Okay.”

*

The food comes, and Jesse lugs the Christmas totes back upstairs one-by-one. Kix insists that he only bring up some of them, and that they only do a little bit of decorating now. Jesse had frowned and asked him if he was sure that’s what he wanted, but Kix just nodded his head firmly and said it was. Jesse doesn’t want to argue with him — and who was he to tell Kix how he feels anyway? — so he does as he’s told.

He does insist that they put up all the snow globes though. They’re the first things they set out.

Jesse asks about all of them. And, of course, Kix has stories for each and every one.

Some are older than both of them, passed down from Kix’s great grandmother, who’d also been into collecting. Some were gifts from family members. Plenty of them, Kix had found all on his own.

Jesse picks up one really ornate one from the box. It’s fairly large, with a round dome of glass holding the liquid and the little snowscape scene. The base of it is fancy — all heavy, painted metal with amazingly intricate little details. Jesse thinks it’s beautiful.

He holds it out towards Kix and asks, “what’s this one’s story?”

Kix turns away from his food and smiles upon seeing the snow globe.

“My grandfather brought this one back from Germany when I was a kid. He told me some long story about how he had to search high and low for it because it’s made with a special weight of gold.” His smile turns sad. “He passed away a week later.”

Suddenly Jesse isn’t so glad he asked.

“It’s pretty,” he offers, knowing the last thing Kix wants to hear is another _i’m sorry_.

Kix smiles and pretends his eyes aren’t going red around the edges as he takes the snow globe in his hands to place on the shelf.

“Yeah,” he agrees. “It is.”

Jesse turns his attention back the box. There’s only one left. When he unwraps it, he finds a surprisingly average snow globe. He instantly recognizes it as the one Kix had in hand that morning, giving it that blinding smile of his. The back of the globe has been painted a deep blue with little silver speckles like stars in the sky. He shakes it and watches as the snowflakes and glitter and fake snow swirl around beautifully.

His fingers catch on a little oval-shaped crank on the bottom of the base.

_’It’s a music box…’_ Jesse realizes. Kix has a few music box snow globes, but the majority of them aren’t. He twists it a few times and listens as it begins to play its song. _Oh, Holy Night_ pinks out quietly, beautiful in its simplicity. It’s not the best thing he’s ever heard, but it brings a smile to his face anyway. He can see why Kix likes this one.

“Do you like it?” Kix asks, suddenly on the floor with him again.

Jesse looks at him, smiling, and nods. “It’s a little simpler than some of your other ones. But yes. I think that helps add to its beauty…”

Kix nods and shifts closer.

“This one is my favorite,” he tells him quietly, like it’s a secret.

“And why’s that?”

“I bought it the day I met you.”

Jesse looks up very suddenly, surprised. Kix is smiling at him, sweet and adoring.

“Really?”

Kix nods with a hum. “Yep. It was on the shelf, and I’d just picked it up to look at it when you bumped into me. I almost dropped it. You made me blush and trip over my words, and when you smiled at me—” Kix chuckles. “Oh, I knew I could fall for you. When you left, I kept looking around, and I hardly even noticed I was still holding this thing. I decided I couldn’t leave without it. It’s been my favorite ever since.”

Jesse puts the snow globe down on the floor reverently and pulls Kix to him. He kisses him, hard and passionately.. Kix whines a little, sliding his arms around Jesse’s neck to cling even closer. It’s overwhelming, even for as chaste as it is. They part, and Jesse pants a little, as if he’d forgotten how to breathe.

“I love you,” he promises against Kix’s mouth. “I love you so much.”

Kix kisses him again, still smiling. “I love you, too.”

“You’re perfect, darling. Every part of you is absolutely perfect.”

“ _Jesse_ ,” Kix whines.

Jesse tickles him then, teasing and feeling light and happy. They dissolve into a tickle fight of easy grins and uncontrollable giggles.

They decorate until they get too tired to continue, and deem it good enough for now. Jesse cleans up dinner while Kix closes up the totes for the night. When they’re done, they go back to Kix’s bedroom and change, falling into bed together easily. Jesse wraps Kix up in his arms, as if he hasn’t been in near constant contact with the younger man for hours by now. He’ll never get enough of keeping Kix in his arms.

And even though it’s a little early, Jesse mumbles against Kix’s skin, “merry Christmas, Kixystix.”

Kix grins and giggles, nuzzling in closer.

“Merry Christmas, Jesse.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
